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     .ooM                     cDc communications                    .ooM

              AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HACKER COMMUNITY CONCERNING
                      CAROLINE MURGUE / TOUCH SYMPOSIUM

Foreword | [full letter @ notcdc.com]

We recently learned that since at least January 2020 and continuing into the
present, a French national by the name of Caroline Murgue [also known as 
Caroline Mee-Ran Murgue] has misrepresented herself as being closely aligned
with three notable hacker groups, specifically:  CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc),
L0pht, and the Chaos Computer Club (CCC).  In doing so, she habitually makes
fraudulent claims and drags our names into disrepute.

Since the publication of the book _Cult of the Dead Cow:  How the Original 
Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World_ in 2019, various people have
come forward with spurious claims of cDc membership.  We have in the past
always handled these situations quietly, without making public statements.
But this one is different, due to the scope and nature of the claims, as well
as the financial component which is concerned here.  But most importantly,
we've asked her to stop and she has not.

For years Ms. Murgue has sustained a campaign of lies and exaggeration, 
portraying herself as a well-connected hacking luminary in order to garner
unearned prestige in the community.  She claims to have both personal and
professional relationships not only with the cDc organization as a whole, but
also with several of its individual members.

For the record:  Caroline Murgue is not � nor has she ever been � a member of
the cDc.  Neither does she possess a special relationship of any kind with
the cDc.  Likewise, she never had a connection with the L0pht hackerspace,
which closed its doors in the year 2000.  [She was, quite likely, a teenager
living in France at the time.]  And, as far as we've been able to ascertain,
she is not a member of the CCC.  [After checking with someone there, they did
not find a Chaosnummer assigned to her name.]

Ms. Murgue has spread these falsehoods far and wide -- across her various
social media accounts:  Instagram, Twitter, Mastodon, Soundcloud, TikTok,
career sites LinkedIn and The-Dots, and potentially others as well.

In short: Caroline Murgue's actions have been consistent with someone
attempting to:

    1. accumulate clout for their very active influencer persona
       adjacent to the hacker scene; and
    2. raise money for their organization.

Leeching cred is unsavory under any circumstances, but it crosses an
unambiguous line when there's also a financial motive at play.

If that weren't enough, she also has a history of issuing antagonistic
statements which embroil CULT OF THE DEAD COW.

Worst of all, she has made attempts to slip into people's social networks by
posing as cDc member Lady Carolin.  This conduct has affected some of our
friends and business colleagues.

Ms. Murgue's reprehensible behavior, despite her having absolutely nothing
whatsoever to do with our group, reflects badly on us all.

We twice reached out to Ms. Murgue privately, urging her to expunge the
offending material.  We hoped that she would remove the falsehoods and
apologize.  Instead she made only a token effort, by removing just a small
fraction of her barefaced lies.

Now, seeing as things still remain unresolved, we feel that the only
responsible course of action is to make the matter public.

CULT OF THE DEAD COW
November 18, 2022

[full letter @ notcdc.com]